Mayerling

September 16, 2013

When the Paul Taylor Dance Company celebrates its 60th anniversary with The Diamond Gala on Thursday, March 13, 2014 at Lincoln Center, the program will include Cloven Kingdom, Sunset, Piazzolla Caldera, and an excerpt from Airs danced by NYCB's Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild. Here is a brief YouTube clip of these two dancers performing Airs at the Vail Dance Festival over the summer. Tickets to all PTDC performances at Lincoln Center are on sale right now! A 25% discount on multiple shows is in play. Black Tuesday, Esplanade, and those over-heated bugs from Gossamer Gallants should not be missed.

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Speaking of bugs, the very sticky Gregor Samsa will be creeping and crawling around the Joyce Theater for 13 days beginning tomorrow when the Royal Ballet's Edward Watson opens in Metamorphosis, the Kafka-based choreographic creation of Arthur Pita. To celebrate the occasion, the Rocking Horse Cafe across the street will be serving up Bugs on a Pita. Free. Various sauces, extra. No, not reallllly.

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Edward Villella has choreographed an ice skating ballet for Ice Theatre of New York's performances at Chelsea Piers on October 24, 25, and 26. The Gala on October 25th will honor legendary skater Kurt Browning and his lovely wife, the National Ballet of Canada ballerina Sonia Rodriguez. More info here. After the show, you might want to swing by the Chelsea Piers Golf Club's driving range which is on the next pier and smack a few balls. The range is open for business until 11pm.

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The Joffrey Ballet has received a $500,000 challenge grant from the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation for the sole purpose of launching an endowment for the creation, production, and performance of FULL-LENGTH STORY BALLETS. Wow, that puts in high gear an engine that has been slowly but steadily revving up for the past decade or so as the Joffrey acquired more story ballets – Cinderella, The Merry Widow, Romeo and Juliet – to go with its rich repertoire of original and ecclectic works.

You know, the Joffrey Ballet could find itself once again on the cover of Time Magazine and on the covers of a lot of other magazines if it mounted the first U.S. production of Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling. The company would do a phenomenal job. It's in their genes to do that type of work, and they have a long history of doing things first in ballet. Joffrey should seduce Edward Watson to bring his special creepy brand of Crown Prince Rudolf to the Chicago stage. The city would eat it up. Too bad Nureyev was already 40-years-old when MacMillan created his masterpiece. Rudy probably would have loved to put his own mark on that bad-boy crown prince and would be honored to have a grant in his name support the production. Haglund would take a whole truckload of folks from New York to Chicago to see Mayerling if the Joffrey presented it. Better yet, Joffrey should bring it to Lincoln Center.

April 26, 2013

WHEN it comes to exploring the darkest corners of the psyche through
ballet there is nobody to touch the late choreographer Kenneth
MacMillan. And they don't come much darker than Mayerling.

Based
on the true, if veiled, account of the tragedy that befell Emperor Franz
Joseph of Austria-Hungary and his semi-psychotic son, Crown Prince
Rudolf, who ended up shooting his 17-year-old mistress before turning
his gun on himself, it is replete with sex, death, guns, drugs and
politics.

Not the usual subjects for dance but Mayerling isn't your usual ballet.

MacMillan's
last great narrative work goes far beyond the customary tropes of
classical dance to produce one of the defining masterpieces of 20th
century ballet and remains one of the crowning glories of The Royal
Ballet.

. . .

If the narrative complexity requires foreknowledge of the story, it is a
small price to pay for an evening that goes way beyond polite
appreciation.

A rare and precious night of dark alchemy.

Many believe that Mayerling is one of MacMillan's "greatest narrative works" but ABT has never performed it despite having an embarrassment of wealth of dramatic heavy-weights who could deliver Crown Prince Rudolf's character with such complex darkness that it would make the ballet one of ABT's "crowning glories," too. The company completely wasted the opportunity to have one of MacMillan's hand-picked original cast members pass down her principal role and historical knowledge to ABT's dancers when it had Georgina Parkinson as its ballet mistress. Today, in its ranks, it's lucky enough to have a dancer who has actually prepared and performed the principal role of Princess Stephanie in the Royal Ballet's production of Mayerling, but that is going to waste, too.

Lady Deborah MacMillan wants ABT to perform Sir Kenneth's masterpiece, but Kevin McKenzie doesn't think the New York audience would understand the story. No doubt, he's also afraid of critic Alastair Macaulay's certain scathing reviews, because Macaulay is on record as despising Mayerling and carries a disrespectful attitude toward most of MacMillan's work.

We're missing a lot by not seeing this fine work performed by an American company. Someone needs to do it: ABT, Joffrey, San Francisco Ballet.

February 02, 2012

Our very own Marcelo Gomes is off to London next week to fill in at a performance of Ashton's The Dream at The Royal Ballet on Thursday, Feb. 9th.

Hopefully, while he's there, Dame Monica will introduce him to a little bit of Mayerling - just enough to whet the appetite - it won't take much. Then, he could come home and perform the charming Wedding Night PdD with our little Stephanie-in-Residence, Gemma Bond, on Opening Night of ABT's Met Season. YE-E-E-E-O-O-O-W!!!!

February 26, 2010

This would be such a good day to stay in and watch the new Mayerling DVD with Edward Watson as Crown Prince Rudolf, but alas, that's one more thing we can't yet get in the U.S. along with the MacMillan bio by Jann Parry.

January 12, 2010

This is a long overdue thank you for bringing the
wonderful Frederick Wiseman film La Danse: The Paris Opera
Ballet to the Film Forum and for generously extending its schedule. So
many people enjoyed the film, and as you are undoubtedly aware, enjoyed repeated
viewings. Films that present ballet as a subject matter are all too rare in
this city. Even more rare are full performance films such as those which the
Metropolitan Opera now presents here and in movie cinemas nationwide.

New York legitimately can boast of having two of the
most magnificent ballet companies in the world, and our city is a destination
for every other great company. Our ballet audiences are large, passionate, and
knowledgeable. As you observed with La Danse, our community fully
supports extraordinary ballet films.

Opus
Arte Cinema, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal Opera House, has
produced a number of films of The Royal Ballet's performances of
Mayerling, Sleeping Beauty, Ondine, Swan
Lake and many others. Currently, their film of Kenneth MacMillan's
Mayerling, due to show in London in February, is creating enormous
interest in the ballet and theatrical communities. Would it be at all possible
for you to consider a possible arrangement with Opus Arte Cinema to present
Mayerling at the Film Forum and perhaps some of the other Opus Arte
productions as well? Recently, DigiScreen Partners began presenting Opus Arte
films in a number of Canadian cities and have expanded their offerings for
2010.

Thank you for your consideration, and again, thank you
for presenting La Danse.

December 12, 2009

Haglund wishes to thank Lady Deborah MacMillan for observing our international campaign to bring Mayerling to ABT and to congratulate her and her team on their beautiful new website which celebrates the life and choreography of Sir Kenneth MacMillan. Her kind comments are posted here and here, but we thought we should replicate them with a bit more visibility:

I'm glad you like the new website for Christmas - we made it for Kenneth's 80th birthday!Thank you for your enthusiasm.While surfing your site, I came across your campaign for 'Mayerling'. May I put the record straight on a few details? 'Mayerling' may have been made on the Royal Ballet, but I have never decreed that it should stay only with the Royal Ballet. Budapest built their own production and did a fine performance - and whoever put about the idea that I removed the rights from them? Vienna has acquired it, did a splendid premiere last year, and revival this. Other companies are in discussion for future productions. I'd love Mayerling to come to ABT - after all it's been to New York with the Royal Ballet. But the management of ABT has told me that the New York audience wouldn't understand the story........ Good luck with your campaign! Deborah MacMillan

So, New York audiences wouldn’t understand the story of Mayerling. Really, ABT Management? So we only understand Disneyfied fairytales? We are too shallow and uninformed to understand an historically-based dance drama? Haglund politely takes exception – difficult as politeness might be for him in this instance.

New York audiences are as sophisticated as audiences anywhere else in the world. Witness the productions at the Metropolitan Opera just this year: Attila - which the Met describes as “the story of civilization’s encounter with barbarism“; Elektra who is self-tortured by obsessions of her mother killing her father; The Nose where a poor guy wakes up to discover his nose is gone (it turns up in a loaf of bread); Simon Boccanegra - a 14th century based political drama; Stiffelio - set in mid 19th century Austria that explores faith and doubt; From the House of the Dead - about life in a Russian prison camp. New Yorkers love a good mind-bending, gut-wrenching drama in any form – opera, theater, music, or ballet.

Given the benefit of a sensible marketing plan, New York audiences would trample all over one another for an opportunity to see ABT's Mayerling. How many other productions does ABT have that allow its magnificent male dance-actors to carry the evening? Not many. Given the fact that the company employs, arguably, the greatest male dance actors anywhere on the planet today, it is a crime not to provide them with a vehicle that could make them truly legendary.Given the fact that the company employs the original Empress Elisabeth from the Royal Ballet's first production of Mayerling, it is a crime not to have her pass on that unique Georgina-zing to a new generation of interpreters at ABT.

But there are options. Yes, there are always options.

Some other U.S. company could jump at the chance to do Mayerling and do it very well: San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, or the Joffrey, to name a few, and they could bring their production to New York. Another option would be for the world to see Marcelo Gomes perform the role of Crown Prince Rudolf as a guest at the Royal Ballet. How mad would that make New Yorkers at ABT? Pretty darn mad.

But the best option, the very best option, is to mount the production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's beautiful, cozy 2100 seat theater where faces can be seen and world class dance theater can be produced. If BAM is big enough for ABT’s new Nutcracker, it’s big enough for Mayerling. That is the best option. Let’s not allow the opportunity to slip through our fingers.

December 11, 2009

The MacMillan Estate has launched its fantastic new website. It contains some rare video footage including a clip of Irek Mukhamedov, Leanne Benjamin and Michael Nunn in the body-chalking / gang effort segment of The Judas Treeand Lynn Seymour and David Wall rehearsing Mayerling with MacMillan and John Lanchbery. Very powerful stuff. There is a fascinating 17 minute long clip of Donald MacLeary teaching the Royal Ballet's Edward Watson the Mandolin Solo from Romeo and Juliet. How valuable will this be to every Romeo on the planet.

You can read anexcerptfrom Jann Parry's biography of MacMillan Different Drummer: The Life of Kenneth MacMillan, which we still cannot buy in the U.S. but can get onamazon.com.uk if one wants to pay a fortune for shipping.

Congratulations on this beautiful new site. It is a wonderful Christmas gift to us all.

November 19, 2009

Emilia and our friends over at The Ballet Bag have invited everyone to read theirfull report on the Kenneth MacMillan Symposium that was held in London earlier this month. It sounds like it was a content-packed event with attendance by so many artists and scholars who worked with MacMillan during his periods of intense creativity.

Emilia emailed Haglund that she had a chance to speak with Edward Watson and informed him of our grassroots – now international – lobbying campaign to have ABT mount a Mayerling in New York:

"During the event we had the opportunity to speak to Watson again and share the story about your campaign to get an ABT Mayerling. Just so you know the RB's quintessential Prince Rudolf would be happy to guest, so carry on lobbying!"

November 17, 2009

Over on ABT’s Facebook page, there’s a little teaser that asks readers what they would like for the 2011 Met season. It ends with “Maybe Kevin will take your advise!” This is all too tempting. Haglund will now design the 2011 season (a Met season and two City Center seasons):

MayerlingFirebird - a new production that makes good dance-use of the final 5 minute musical orgasm.Cinderella - Ashton’sGiselleIn the Upper RoomGreen TableDark ElegiesSpartacus - if the kids on Dancing with the Stars can do Irek’s one-armed overhead lift, so can our guys!RodeoManonThe Nutcracker - Baryshnikov’s production (or maybe Stiefel’s new one for NCSA) for two weeks in December at City Center. You’ve got all those kids in the JKO school who need something to dance. We can never have too many Nutcrackers in this city. Never. Every kid deserves the chance to dance in a Nutcracker.OneginOthelloPaquitaPetrouchkaThe Rite of Spring - Nijinsky’sSwan Lake

Did we mention Mayerling? Didn’t we mention Mayerling? For the love of god, how many times do we have to mention Mayerling?!

November 04, 2009

Go immediately toThe Ballet Bagto read Emilia's fantastic interview with Edward Watson of the Royal Ballet. Watson speaks so eloquently about Kenneth MacMillan's choreography, in particular, his preparations for and commitment to the role of Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling:

The most research I did was with Mayerling because Crown Prince Rudolf
was a real person and so you have a responsibility to be very honest. I
read a lot of books on the subject. Deborah [MacMillan] lent me a book
which Kenneth gave her for her birthday which he based the ballet on
[The Road to Mayerling]. She lent me her copy so I could find things
that he had underlined in there, things that were really important to
him. I also had a weekend in Vienna, I went to visit Mayerling and saw
the grave. It fascinated me, this ballet has always fascinated me since
I was a kid, from having seen the South Bank documentary originally
with Lynn Seymour and David Wall. It is one of those ballets that grow
on you. The more you see it, the more you want to see it again. Being
in Mayerling had an impact on me because it doesn’t come around that
often. It wasn’t in the company for about 8 years while I was here.

And this picture by Johan Persson of Watson as Rudolf with his "friend":

Haglund looks forward to any and all coverage that The Ballet Bag will publish on the upcoming symposium: Kenneth MacMillan's Choreographic Imagination & Psychological Insight:A symposium to explore and celebrate MacMillan's creative genius Imperial College London, 8 Nov 2009. That's this Sunday!

Psychoanalysts, writers, and artists and former artists of The Royal Ballet, including Viviana Durante (an astonishing Mary Vetsera), Edward Watson, Clement Crisp, Wayne Eagling, and Monica Mason are among the participants.